


Playing Favorites

by ihavesomanynotes



Category: Ylvis
Genre: AU No Wives No Kids, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 22:43:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2405588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihavesomanynotes/pseuds/ihavesomanynotes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which Bård is a college professor who accidentally falls for his favorite student. Romantic fantasy with some angst in later chapters. This one will be a bit of a slow burn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *clap* OKAY! As you may have read on my tumblr post, I have a deep and abiding aversion to writing setup chapters, I need to work on that. I swear to god, later chapters are better, I have outside confirmation on this. When I jump right into the action it just flows out of me, but when I try to write setup it feels stunted and forced but NEVER MIND THAT, this is the first chapter of my Professor!Bård fic. Yes, it is basically my romantic fantasy so NO, I am not reaaally looking for too much criticism on this one if you don't mind, you can do that on my angst fic to your heart's content. ;) Written for a dear friend and myself who've spent countless nights imagining Bård as a professor, because...herregud.  
> Note: Bård perspective is my favorite. I hope you like it!

\--Joanna--

 

"Right, any questions?"

Joanna watched from her desk on the right side of the small lecture hall as hands shot up around the room and couldn’t help but smile. He got so into his subject sometimes that he’d go a little too fast for some students to follow. Norwegian I, one of the compulsory classes in the Scandinavian Studies program. Professor Ylvisåker— _Bård,_ she reminded herself, _h_ _e hates being called professor--_ paced back and forth in front of his desk, answering each question with the same easygoing enthusiasm. He pushed his sleeves a little further up (had she ever seen him wear them down?) as he explained a slight pronunciation difference for what she was pretty sure was the third time today. He had always dressed more casually than the rest of the professors, preferring to leave his jacket on the chair and his tie loose. It was his shoes that had become most popular with the students, though. Nobody was exactly sure how many pairs he owned, but he was definitely the only professor on campus with a penchant for wearing brightly colored Hummels with his slacks and button-up (his favorites were the green ones).

Joanna hated to admit it to herself, but she’d always been attracted to him. On the first day of class, he’d burst in reciting  _Peer Gynt_ dramatically _,_ clearly enjoying himself as his students looked on in bewilderment. After a minute or two, he’d leaned back against his desk, folded his arms and said, with a boyish smile and no attempt to hide his accent, “One day, hopefully, you’ll all be able to understand that.” That was it for her, if she was being honest. Over the last couple of months she had done a pretty good job of holding the attraction at bay and paying attention, but every so often he’d run his hands through his long dark blonde hair or flash that smile or call her “Yo-hanna” and it’d hit her all over again. 

She smiled to herself at the thought of her nickname. The first time he'd read her name off the list, he'd pronounced it "Norwegian-style," as he said. He'd corrected it, after an embarrassed grin and a good chuckle at himself, but she told him she didn't mind. Johanna it was with him from then on, and she loved it. They'd developed a friendly back-and-forth since then, and she felt at ease asking him for help.

The class laughed at something she hadn't been paying attention to, and she looked at the clock and realized the period was over. She packed her bag but lingered to try and catch him before he left. 

 

\--Bård--

 

Keys. Where the hell did he stick his keys? He grabbed his leather jacket from the chair and stuck his hands in both pockets. No luck. They _had_ to be in his bag. Hadn't he checked every pocket? _Faen. You'd think I could keep track of a set of--  
_

"Prof--Bård?" 

He looked up, the question bringing him back to earth. He couldn't help the smile when he saw who it was.

 "Oh, Johanna...hey." 

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting?"

" _Nei_ , it's fine. Did you need something?"

"I was just checking to see if we were still on for tonight? Tutoring?"

"Uh, yes. Yeah, definitely. Library, 6:00, right?"

"Yeah." She glanced at the contents of his bag all over the table and smiled. "Looking for something?" 

"Keys." He ran a hand through his hair, stuck his other hand in his front pocket...and froze. No way. No  _fucking way._

Joanna laughed out loud. She had just figured it out. 

"Hush!" He tried to sound angry but couldn't help laughing at his own mistake. 

"I'm sorry, I just...your face..."

"Hey now." He pointed an accusatory finger at her, still chuckling. "This never happened, understood?"

"Understood.  I'll see you tonight." 

He watched her go with a smile. He knew he wasn't supposed to have favorites. He knew that always led to complications. But he couldn't seem to help it with her, she just...he shook his head. Everyone had favorites, right? Fine. No big deal. 

"No big deal," he repeated to himself as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He wasn't sure he believed it. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Purely Bård perspective this time--enjoy! :)

They sat in a corner of the library between two bookshelves, papers and flashcards cluttering the small table and a bag of gummy worms between them. The weekly tutoring sessions had started a couple of weeks into term. She had needed some extra help with a lesson, he had been happy to oblige, and to his surprise, she had come up to him after class the next period and asked if they could continue. He had really started to enjoy them, though. She was smart, she was eager to learn as much as she could, and she was just plain nice to hang out with. Oftentimes they'd find themselves just chatting, the lesson temporarily forgotten. They would chat about the happenings on campus, about the latest movie that neither one of them had managed to see yet, about Norway--she loved hearing about Norway, and would always listen attentively as Bård told yet another story from home. Bård would never say it out loud, but this was becoming one of the highlights of his week. 

He picked up a stack of cards with "friends and family" words written on them. They hadn't gone over these in a while. "Okay. Vocabulary speed drill. Ready?"

She grabbed another gummy worm first. _Always red or pink, never a yellow or green._ He smiled to himself--he'd never noticed that before. Gummy worm needs fulfilled, she shuffled a little in her seat to face him. "Ready." 

" _Klar, ferdig, gå_!" He held up a flashcard with " _bestemor_ " written on it and began to quiz her.

"Grandmother!"

" _Tvilling_."

"Twin!" 

" _Foreldre._ "

"Parents."

" _Barn_."

"Child!" 

They made it through most of the deck, with only a few mistakes. She stopped to write down the definitions of the ones she missed, tucking a loose strand of her dark, wavy hair behind her ear. She had worn it up in a loose bun today, he noticed...it really did look nice when it was up. He kept watching. She absentmindedly bit her bottom lip as she wrote and Bård felt a little tug behind his stomach that he hadn't felt in a long time. She was so pretty...

"OK, done with those."

Bård snapped out of his reverie as she looked up. "Um--yeah. All right. We have a couple of minutes left before you need to go, so we can work on--oh hey, we missed a card." He bent down to pick up the stray card off the floor. " _Kjæreste._ "

"Oh, geez, I know I know this one..." she looked up at the ceiling. "Is it...boyfriend?"

"Actually, it's boyfriend or girlfriend," he answered. "This is a cool word. It's neutral, and it just means 'the dearest'..."

" _Kjæreste_. Dearest. I like that, it's sweet." She smiled at him. "Much better than 'boyfriend,' I think."

He smiled back. "I told you, Norwegian is just better."

She rolled her eyes just as her phone buzzed. "Oh. Time to go." She started to pack up her stuff, still smiling. "Do you want the rest of these worms?"

"Always." He took the bag. She hadn't left a single red one. He supposed he could deal with that, the yellows were his favorites anyway. "I'll see you in class Wednesday?" 

"Yeah. See you, thanks again!"

"No problem." She disappeared around the corner of the shelf and he leaned back in his chair and sighed. He couldn't believe he'd let his mind wander as much as it did. She was his student. That was all. He couldn't forget that. Just a student. 

_A sweet, funny, gorgeous student...._

"Fuck," he whispered out loud as he picked up his bag to leave. This was going to be a problem. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to throw in some more Joanna perspective, maybe if I write fast there will be more Bård perspective out today too. :) I know they've been short, there will be some that are longer and some that are just little chapter-lets like this one. But I wanted to go ahead and do this one separately so in case I didn't finish the Bård bit today, there'd at least be an update. Hope you like.

Joanna sat on the floor of her small living room with her laptop open in front of her, struggling to focus. For some reason, Introduction to Viking History and Culture wasn't really keeping her attention. She stared at the document open on her screen. An entire 4 sentences. The blinking cursor just felt like it was mocking her now.

She sighed heavily and reached for her tea mug, only to find it empty. A perfect excuse to stop writing--surely she couldn't keep going until she had more.  _That's a pretty sad excuse, even for you,_ she thought to herself as she filled up the kettle and lit the stove. She leaned against the counter as she waited for the water to boil, her mind lazily reviewing the day's events. Norwegian class had been fun today. Bård had decided to postpone the next grammar lesson and had instead spent the whole period talking about and giving examples of different Norwegian dialects. He even had Youtube examples for several of them, but his own uncanny impressions would have been more than enough to entertain the class. She was surprised nobody had come to see what they'd all been laughing about.

She smiled to herself as she remembered how he melodramatically bemoaned the fact that the textbook was teaching Oslo dialect a number of times, saying he'd rather teach them his native Bergen dialect but "nobody published textbooks for that." She was secretly thrilled when the class got him to speak in his own dialect, although it made it a little harder for her to focus on what was being said when she was too focused on not resting her head on her hands and dreamily sighing like a lovestruck schoolgirl every time he said a word with an "R" in it. 

She was a little embarrassed upon recollection of  _that_ particular moment. Was she really the type to get all starry eyed over an attractive professor? At 23, she was one of the older students in the class--she'd decided to pursue an entire second degree program, to the confusion of most of her family and friends. Surely she was too old for crushes on the teacher. 

The whistling kettle brought her back to reality. She brewed a fresh cup of peppermint tea and sat back down in front of her laptop with a resigned sigh. 

_Maybe Bård can tutor me in this too._

That idea brought a snort of laughter--yeah, that wouldn't be obvious  _at all._  She could picture the conversation as she tried to come up with a valid reasoning:   
  


"Hey, Bård? I was wondering if you...had time to...help me out with this other class too?" 

"Which class?"

"Introduction to Viking History and Culture."

"Why me? History isn't really my field."

"Cause...you know...you're a Viking..."

She knew he'd laugh at that one, and a grin spread across her face as she pictured his reaction. She loved making him laugh. Maybe she'd ask him after all, just as a joke.

_Joanna, HONESTLY._

Her common sense kicked in, and she wiped the smile off her face and forced herself to focus on her essay. She wasn't going to let him distract her. Or at least she was going to try not to. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 Bård bits in one chapter, with a bit of a time jump. I didn't feel like 2 different chapters would work right. Bård's really starting to fall and he's totally in denial and I love it. Also: if I write Johanna with an H, it's because I'm trying to convey the way Bård says it--it's his nickname for her now, remember?--but if the 2 spellings are annoying people, I can stop. Just let me know.

Bård saw the darkening sky out the window and looked at his watch.  “Okay, last one: hva heter det på Norsk?” He held up a picture of a flower—these were really basic words. She knew most of these by heart by now, but they always ended by going over some basics so she’d be able to focus on the grammar instead of the vocabulary when she was speaking. 

“En blomma,” she replied. “I MEAN—”

“Hæ?!” he burst out, laughing. “Var at Svensk?!”

“Blomst, that’s what I meant, en blomst!”

“That was...that was Swedish. Why did you speak Swedish in my presence? I don't believe this."

She covered her face with her hands, attempting to hide the laughter, and he heard a muffled “I’m sorryyyy." She stifled another laugh and looked around. "We have got to be quiet." 

He lowered his voice and put his hand over his heart in mock distress. “I just can’t believe you would spring that on me. Have you been CHEATING on me with…Swedish?”

She attempted a serious face, which appeared very difficult. “No, I just…my friend's notes, they were just there, and…” She giggled when she saw his look of disgust. 

He very nearly broke his "offended" character listening to her laugh. It was nearly impossible for him not to smile, and if he was honest with himself, the reason he was keeping it up was just to hear her laugh more. "I...I feel so betrayed.” He heard her phone buzz, marking the end of the lesson. “Time for you to go, you two-timing cheater.”

She laid her hand on his arm, and he felt his heart beat a little faster at the slight touch—he hoped she hadn’t noticed any reaction. She adopted a very serious expression that still didn’t quite hide the fact that she was laughing at him. “I’ll never cheat on you with Swedish again.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you lying?"

“...Yes.”

He broke the serious mask and laughed. “I suppose I’ll learn to live with it. I’ll see you in class.”

“See ya,” she said with a smile. She loaded the rest of the flashcards in her bag and turned to leave.

“Johanna?"

She turned around and his breath caught in his throat. God, that smile was beautiful. 

“Yes?”

He quickly recovered enough to get out, “Good--good job tonight.”

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

As the students noisily packed their bags and filed out, Bård turned his back to the classroom and rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before, and he was not a man who ran well on no sleep. Maybe he had time to take a nap before he started grading. 

He turned around to see if there were any students left--a few of them were still chatting. A group of freshman girls were gathered around an iPhone screen in the back corner, apparently reading some text conversation that just could not wait. Joanna was still hanging around, talking to her friend Elaine. She looked like she was telling a funny story, and he smiled to himself as he watched her animated gestures. He looked away and started to pack up his laptop. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to catch him looking. 

"Bård? Do you have a second?" 

He looked up, surprised. He'd been so focused on not looking at her that he hadn't even noticed her walk up. "Sure."

"I'm really sorry, but I have to bail on tutoring next week. I just wanted to tell you in advance so you didn't plan around it." 

That was a little bit of a bummer, but it was just one session. "Yeah, no problem. Did something else come up?"

"Well..." she hesitated and looked down for a minute, as if she was reluctant to tell him. "I, um..." 

His brow furrowed a little. What didn't she want to tell him?

"I kind of...have a...have a date, actually." 

His eyebrows shot back up. That was not what he was expecting to hear. He tried to maintain as neutral of an expression as he could as he felt a sinking feeling somewhere in the region of his stomach. "Oh. Oh, well, that's--that's great. Have fun." He attempted a genuine smile, certain that she'd see right through it. 

"I'm sorry," she said earnestly. "Really. I didn't want to cancel on you, but it was really the only night it would work, and I figured we could...reschedule or something."

"Yeah. We can reschedule, don't worry. No need to apologize. Really. It's fine. " _For the love of God, Bård, stop talking, you sound like an upset teenager._

She seemed reassured--at least she hadn't noticed anything. "Okay, great. We'll work on rescheduling later, then." 

"Yep." 

As she left and the door shut behind her, he leaned against the desk, the now-empty room nearly ringing with silence. There was absolutely no reason for him to be this upset. It was a just a reschedule, no problem there. He had no say in how she spent her time. She was perfectly at liberty to do what she wanted, to...date who she wanted...

_You're upset because she canceled for a date. Not because she canceled. Because Monday nights are your thing, and she canceled it for another guy. Admit it._

He ignored the thoughts and snatched his bag off the table. He just needed sleep, he was being ridiculous. 

He walked out the door with his earphones in. He didn't feel like talking to anyone right now. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet! More coming tomorrow, hope you enjoy :)

  Bård shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he started through the next stack of papers. He should have stopped working hours ago, he knew it, but he figured if he had a whole Monday night off, he might as well put it to good use. The half-eaten remains of his dinner still sat on the desk, long cold. He peered into the bowl and poked the contents around a little, grimacing. Yeah, he was done with that. 

Grading was one of his least favorite parts of the job, and he  _always_  put it off until the last minute before his own deadline. He much preferred actually getting to teach in person, being able to correct them on the spot and help them fix their mistakes. Watching a student light up when they finally understood something never got old. 

_Like when Joanna finally understands the sample sentences in her textbook without looking..._

He smiled at the memory of her last "language epiphany," as she had called it. Her eyes had widened as she read the words to herself, and a grin had spread across her face before she had turned to him and triumphantly pronounced the sentence and followed it up with an English translation. _Oh, yeah, that was the night someone told us our high-five was too loud and we were distracting them.  
_

He shook his head and laughed quietly to himself--he was getting no work done. The clock on the wall read 6:47. She was on her date now, he guessed. Probably having a great time. He flipped to the next paper. He needed to focus, but his thoughts were a jumbled mess, half grading and half completely unnecessary speculation.

_I wonder where they went..._ _Incorrect, it should be du, not deg..._ _He probably took her out to dinner..._ _For the last time, that is not how you spell it..._

Time for the next paper. His pen skimmed across the paper as he attempted to block out the invading thoughts. First student with zero mistakes, that was nice. He'd have to make sure to tell them they'd done well. 

_I hope he didn't take her to that Thai place down the road, maybe he doesn't know she hates that place..._

He threw his pen down in frustration and backed his chair away from the desk. This was ridiculous. He was a grown adult, a professor for God's sake, and all he could think about was the fact that Joanna was on a date. There was absolutely no reason he should care. He had far more important things to be focusing on than the dating life of the favorite student that he wasn't supposed to have in the first place. Besides, she certainly wasn't thinking about him, they'd rescheduled. She'd be listening to whatever interesting thing this guy had to say. She'd be cocking her head to one side like she did when she was really listening to something, and talking with her hands like she did when she got really into a subject. She was probably laughing at this guy's jokes, too.

_The way she laughs at my jokes._

That was enough. He stood up and pushed the chair into the desk--he was not getting any more work done tonight at this rate. He took the bowl to the kitchen and walked back to his couch. Maybe there was something decent on TV. He settled on a program about the making of some fancy car and put his feet up on the coffee table. The clock now read 7:10. 

_I wonder what time she'll get home..._

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In retrospect, the first part of this chapter would have gone well with the last chapter as they happen at the same time, but I didn't have it written then, so oh well. Maybe I'll move it later. I probably will, for flow purposes. But for the purposes of this update, it'll be here.  
> Also, note: if the Chris guy seems like I might have based him on a real person, I 100% did. Hi, Tyler.

Joanna glanced at her watch. 6:47.  _Ohh, has it really only been 45 minutes?_

She felt a twinge of guilt for that one. Christopher really was a nice guy. They'd had a pretty good time so far, and he'd insisted on buying the first drink. He was up at the bar now, getting round 2 for both of them. She looked down into her empty cocktail glass and swirled the melting ice cubes around with her straw. Thank goodness this was just drinks, because she really wasn't feeling up to too much more of this. He was nice to be around, he could carry on a decent conversation, he was cute. But the longer they talked, the more she realized it wouldn't work as a relationship. He was a straight-laced business student who wore sweater vests a lot of the time and didn't seem to have a creative bone in his body--not her type. 

_Not Norwegian enough._

That wasn't where she had been expecting that thought process to go. She let out a small sigh as she pictured him sitting across from her here, with that completely disarming half-smile that always made her forget what she was going to say next, and immediately chided herself for letting her silly crush creep in.  _No. Don't bring him into this._ This was real life. This was a real date, with someone she actually had a chance of being with. Bård was off-limits, out of the picture, and most likely not interested anyway. She wasn't going to let him ruin every date she went on.

Her resolve weakened as she continued to distractedly swirl her ice cubes, thinking of their rescheduled library session. After the way tonight had gone, if she was given the choice of where to be right now, she knew she'd pick the library. Bård would be sitting across the table, most likely lopsided in the chair and flipping through her textbook to find that week's lesson. He'd hum to himself and drum on the table as he read, the way he usually did whether or not there was music. There would be high-fives and quiet laughter instead of slightly forced smiles and conversations about the latest thing Chris heard on public radio. _Why did I cancel on him?_

She put on what she hoped was a convincing smile as Chris came back with their drinks, her mind working overtime for a convincing excuse to leave soon without being mean. Suddenly, there were only 2 places she wanted to be: home, or the corner table in the library. 

 

\--------------------------------

 

Bård shrugged off this jacket and hung it over the back of the chair at their usual table, glad nobody else had decided to use it that night. It had been nearly 4 days since he'd talked to her, and he was embarrassed to admit how much he'd missed it. She'd been in class, but that was different. In class, he couldn't do much more than glance at her a few times, maybe ask her a question--it wasn't the same. There had been no easy back-and-forth before or after class either, which was unusual. He enjoyed chatting to the students that came early as they waited for the class period to officially start, which she did more often than not, coming straight from one of her history courses. Yesterday, though, she'd come in right on time and left almost immediately. 

He heard his name and looked up, unable to hide the grin. "Hei."

"Hey." She set her bag down on the floor and sighed as she collapsed into the chair. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just been a crazy day." He must have looked worried, because she quickly added, "Nothing bad happened, I just...I must have left the house without half of the things I needed, and it seemed like I was running about 10 minutes behind for everything, and..." she made a dismissive hand gesture. "It's fine. It's better now." 

"You sure you want to stay?" He didn't want her to leave, but he didn't like seeing her stressed out. 

"Oh, yeah. I didn't mean it that way, I promise. I've been looking forward to this all afternoon." 

He felt the warmth spreading through his chest before the smile came back to his face. "All right, good."  _Me too. All week, actually._ "So, um..." he laughed at the look on her face that told him she knew exactly what he was about to ask. "How was the date?"

She covered her face with both hands to hide her embarrassed smile. "Oh, god."

" _Kom igjen_ ," he chuckled. "Tell."

"Oh, man," she said. "It was, uh..."

"That bad?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Not terrible. He's really nice. He was just really not my type, and I had to tell him that I had a nonexistent paper due today so he didn't ask about a third drink, and I felt bad. But it was fine." 

Bård nodded. " _Fine_ , huh? You sound smitten."

She put her head down on her arms, her shoulders shaking. "I cannot believe I am talking about this with my teacher." 

"I have a right to know why my best student decided to abandon me." That brought another giggle...he decided that was definitely one of his favorite sounds.

" _Abandon_. Wow. I admit it, it was completely not worth canceling for. I made a huge mistake."

"Ja, you did. I hope you've learned your lesson," he said in his very best serious voice. "Who was this guy, anyway?" 

"Uh, Chris. Christopher Anderson, he's a...business student."

That definitely came as a surprise. "Wait! Chris Anderson? The one who wrote an article in the school paper about what we could all learn from the CEOs of 5 successful companies, that Chris Anderson?"

She let out a surprised laugh. "Yes! That one. I didn't know you knew him." 

"Well, I don't know him, but I've met him, and...really?"

"Really. Why are you surprised?" 

"Why did you say yes?" 

"You first." 

He looked up at the top row of bookshelves and chewed his tongue for a minute as he chose his words carefully.  _Because you're beautiful and funny and smart and interesting, and he's nowhere near good enough for you_ was not going to work. 

"Because, he's just so...boring. He's nice, but he seems like the type of guy who gets excited about a new pair of loafers, and you don't seem like the type who'd go for that."

"A new pair of loafers," she laughed. "Probably. You're right, I don't go for that. But as to why I said yes, it had just been a while since I'd been out and I figured I would give him a chance."

"Well, that was nice of you," he replied. "There are much better guys out there for you to give chances to, I promise."

"Like who?" 

"Like--" he internally panicked as he realized that he had stopped himself right before he said _me_. That question had caught him off guard. He quickly recovered, "I don't know. But I know there are better ones." He grabbed the textbook off the table--it was time to change the subject, this was getting dangerous. 

She smiled. Thank god, he didn't think she had noticed anything. "I'll keep an eye out for them." She bent down to retrieve her notecards from her bag, and he blew out a deep breath. That was way too close. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, you guys. I am so sorry. I'm back. Bård and Joanna are back. Hope you haven't completely lost interest by now. Be nice, I'm just starting to get my fic groove back.

_I could still think of a reason to stay home._

Joanna paced the length of her room for what was probably the 15th time, tossing her jacket back on the bed.

_This is ridiculous. There will be other people there, it's not like he and I are just going to hang.  
_

She stopped in front of the mirror and looked at her hair. Shit, she still hadn't done anything with that. 

_And even if we were just going to hang, what's the big deal, we've done that before. Kind of. In the library. Right?_

She started to twist her hair up into a loose bun, sighed, and let it drop again. Maybe she should just wear it down. More casual. But up looked nice too...

_Oh my god, why does this even matter?!_

She let out a frustrated groan. This should not be that big of a deal. It was just a class thing. "Norwegian Movie And/Or TV Night," the email had called it. Just a time to get together as a class and watch some Norwegian entertainment, either with subtitles or with Bård explaining what was going on. Pizza, beers, and extra credit. He figured it'd be a more fun way to get more exposure to the language as it was actually spoken. It was a really great idea, she admitted. But the idea of actually going over to Bård's apartment was turning out to be far scarier than she originally thought.

_What if only a couple people show up? What if only I show up?_

That last one made her stomach flutter a little. She knew other people had said they were coming, but even the possibility of being alone with Bård, in his apartment, for any length of time...she shook her head. That wasn't gonna happen, and if it did, it's not like he'd ask her to _stay_. 

If she didn't leave now, she was going to be late. She grabbed her jacket and started to head out before catching another glimpse of herself in the mirror. She snatched some pins and a hairband off the bedside table and quickly twisted her hair into a bun, swearing under her breath. She was going to need a drink by the time she got there. 

 

\--------

 

The doorbell rang. "One of you mind answering that? It's either pizza or more people." Bård carried a stack of plates into the living room and smiled to himself when he heard "oh yeah, take your shoes off."  More students. They slowly filed into the living room, chatting, a few of them meeting for the first time. Another ring. This time it had to be the pizza. He started to make his way towards the door, turning around halfway there to answer a question. He didn't even see her until they collided. 

"Oh god, sorry," she laughed. "Hey."

"Joanna." He was suddenly aware of how close she was standing, of the fact that she still had her hand on his arm, of the fact that she was here, in his apartment.  _Say something._ "H-hey. It was my fault, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's no--" a knock at the door cut her off. "You should probably answer that." She gestured toward the door with a smile and a nod as she started to join her classmates. "They don't sound patient." 

He ran his hand through his hair as he walked towards the door and let out a deep breath. If just having her in his entryway made him this nervous, this was gonna be a long night. 

 

\--------

 

They had gone through the options as a group and popular vote had chosen _Trollhunter_ , to Bård's great amusement. Joanna had to admit, it was entertaining. She curled farther into her corner of the couch and her eyes fell on Bård again. She'd caught herself looking at him more times than she cared to admit over the course of the evening. He wasn't exactly making it easy not to look. The v-neck sweater did fit well, and that color blue made his eyes look amazing. This was new, seeing him casually sitting back in jeans and bare feet, clearly enjoying himself. It was a different side of him, and yet he still gave off the easygoing vibe of their favorite professor, explaining some references to the group and throwing in comments about actors or locations ("Oh, fun fact about this place," or "One time my best friend and I...") 

She watched him laugh at a joke that went over the students' heads, and a minute later furrow his brow and point at the screen. 

"Wait. That subtitle is wrong..." 

She smiled and turned back to the movie. 

 

\-------

 

 _Don't, Bård._ He kept his eyes on the TV. _You can't keep looking at her all night, someone will notice. Or worse, she'll notice._ He felt guilty for sneaking glances while everyone was watching the movie, watching her reactions every time a particularly big thing happened or looking to see which parts she laughed at. He kept reminding himself that he wasn't supposed to even be interested. But the way she looked sitting there, on his couch, with her feet curled up underneath her, listening for words and phrases that she knew and smiling to herself when she understood...he knew that small smile. He'd seen it at the back table in the library earlier in the week when he'd asked all her questions in Norwegian. _She had her hair up then, too...looks pretty pulled up..._

It took him a minute to register that he'd broken his own new rule and was watching her again. _Damn it._  He couldn't keep doing this. He glued his eyes to the screen again.  _No more of this. Just watch the rest of the movie._

There was still a lot of movie left. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to stick to that decision.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been meaning to write this bit for AGES. Let's move the story along juuuust a bit, shall we?

"Well, I think we can call that a successful first movie night, ja?"

Bård's students seemed to agree. He'd been nervous about having a bunch of them in his home, but had decided about halfway through the movie that this was actually a good idea. As they started to gather up pizza plates and drinks, he stood up to take the DVD out.

"Sshhh, guys, Joanna fell asleep."

Bård turned around a little too quickly. She was asleep, curled up in the corner, hugging the pillow. He'd never seen her like that...

He suddenly realized that he was still looking at her and he quickly turned away. "She must have fallen asleep towards the end."

"I could throw a pillow at her," whispered Elaine jokingly. 

"Don't do that," Bård laughed. 

"Please?"

"There will be no throwing of the pillows." He walked to the doorway to flip the lights back on, and Joanna stirred and opened her eyes. "There she is," he said with a grin. 

She sat halfway up and seemed to realize that everyone was leaving. "When did I...I'm sorry. I'm awake, I'm up. I'm coming."  

"Bye, Bård!" he heard one of the group call from the door. "Thanks for having us, it was really fun!" 

He followed them to the door to let them out, bidding his students goodbye as they filed out. When he shut the door, he realized he hadn't gotten a chance to say goodbye to Joanna. She must have been mixed up in the group. He turned the lock and walked back into the living room, yawning--and stopped in his tracks. She hadn't been mixed up in the group, she'd fallen back asleep. She'd shifted positions a little, but her arm still hugged the pillow and those loose hairs that had escaped her bun lay across her face. He smiled to himself despite his surprise and just looked at her for a second before his brain kicked in and he thought  _Well, shit._ This was not a situation he ever thought he'd find himself in. 

 _Do I go over there and wake her up?_   That made him nervous.Maybe he could just turn the TV back on and hope it woke her up so he didn't have to be standing over her awkwardly, or the alternative, standing where he was and saying her name louder.  _Both of those are shit ideas, Bård._ He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. She must have been really tired to fall back asleep at someone else's house, it almost felt mean to wake her up again.  _It's not mean, it's common sense, you can't just let her spend the night._

That last thought made his stomach do a little flip. He shook his head. No. Absolutely not, he was not even going to go there. He slowly made his way to the couch and sat down, facing her. Reaching his hand out to her shoulder, his eyes fell on her face again, and he suddenly found himself fighting the urge to brush those loose waves back. The thought made him hesitate.  _Oh, come on, you have got to wake her up, you know that._ He gingerly touched her shoulder. "Hey, Johanna..."

She inhaled sharply and rubbed her eyes, sitting up.  "Hey...wha--oh my god. Did I fall back asleep?" She looked down with her forehead in her hand. "Please tell me I didn't just take an unauthorized nap on your couch." 

He smiled. "It's only been a minute or two, I promise. They just left." 

"Oh, good, that at least makes it slightly less embarrassing," she replied with what he was pretty sure was sarcasm. She finally looked up at him and smiled apologetically. "I'm really sorry. I haven't gotten any sleep this week, and I must have just hit a wall." 

"Don't worry about it, it's fine." 

"Promise?" 

"Promise." She seemed somewhat relieved and stood up to retrieve her purse. "Of course," he continued, "it was a class activity, so I'm afraid I can't give you the credit..."

"What?" 

"Kidding," he said quickly. "I'm just kidding." 

She relaxed and smiled, headed towards the door. "Rude." He stood up to see her out. "I just woke up, you can't trick me like that." 

"I'm sorry, that was mean," he laughed. She stood between him and the door now. 

"I really did have a good time, even though...you know. I'm sorry, again."

"It's fine. Honestly." 

"Can we make a deal that we never speak of this again?"

"Done."

He reached for the door handle at the same time she did, and their hands bumped together for an instant. It was as if a shock ran up his arm. In the awkward apologies and shuffling that followed from both of them, he once again became very aware of just how close she was, how she started to put her hand on his arm as she attempted to move out of his way, but seemed to change her mind and pull it back. He unlocked the door and looked up to find her face inches from his own, her eyes looking right into his. He froze. They'd never been this close before. His heart was beating faster, his breathing was becoming shallow. He let his eyes dart down to her lips before he realized he had done it and looked quickly back up. She moved the slightest bit closer and he thought his heart might pound out of his chest. She was right there, and she was beautiful, and he wanted nothing more than to close the gap and kiss her.

She suddenly gasped and turned away, and Bård came crashing back to reality. "Um, I should--I need to go, I--it's late--"

"Yes. Yeah. You should go. I mean, you need to go. Get some sleep."

"Right. Class tomorrow."

"So, I, um, I'll see you then."

"Yeah." 

"Bye."

As soon as he closed the door, he leaned against it and let out a heavy sigh. _What the hell just happened?_

He couldn't have been imagining the tension in that moment, could he? He didn't think he imagined her moving closer, and she definitely hadn't backed away...

 _Nei_ , he told himself. _You cannot do this. This is bad_. What if every encounter was tense and awkward now? What if she didn't want to meet in the library anymore? For the first time, he dreaded seeing her the next day. 


End file.
